The Nightmare Menu
by rubyhardflames
Summary: This menu has a list of nightmares eaten by Hiruko. Some of them will tantalize you, some will not...either way, read through and order. It's just a collection of nightmares I thought up for Hiruko to solve.
1. Dish One: Heavy Cargo

My second Yumekui Kenbun fanfic...yay! It's just a collection of people's nightmares and Kenbun-kun solving them...I had some ideas I wanted to get down so don't mind if I do.

I also sort of wanted to cover the nightmares that weren't mentioned in the manga...I mean, Hiruko couldn't have only solved so little, right?

Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun belongs to Shin Mashida.

* * *

_Under the cover of darkness...._

_They come to the Silver Star Teahouse..._

_Seeking solace._

It was another typical night at the Silver Star. Mizuki Asahina, the hostess/landlady/owner of the Teahouse was brewing some coffee for herself. Hifumi Misumi, the noisy and fun-loving tenant, was meeting with the Rumor Club, a club that collected popular rumors and went to see if they were correct. And Hiruko, the nightmare-eating baku, was sitting at the very end of the last table waiting for a customer.

"Slow busines?" Mizuki asked.

Hiruko gave an acknowledging grunt. "It hasn't been the first time."

Mizuki gave a soft laugh and sipped her coffee. Things had been this way for the Silver Star Teahouse for at least five years. The only difference was that Hifumi brought more laughter to the Teahouse. And everybody needs their comic relief once in a while, right?

"I do hope someone comes," Hiruko said. "I'm hungry." And to emphasize it, his stomach growled.

"That usually never happens," Mizuki noted. "The growling, I mean."

"It only proves that I'm starving," the baku said miserably.

Luckily for Hiruko, the door pushed open and shook a bell, which rang,_ ding._ A woman in her thirties stepped inside. She was wearing the typical dress--a kimono--and had long, waist-length black hair. Her eyes were red and had dark circles underneath. They held a rather wild look, which Hiruko and Mizuki only knew too well; restlessness.

"Oh my," Mizuki said, growing concerned. "I'll get you some coffee..."

"Thank you," the woman said. "And, um...is this place...where Hiruko the baku is? My friend told me about him just yesterday. And I need help with a nightmare."

"Yes, of course," Mizuki replied. She pointed to Hiruko. "He's right there. Just sit down, tell him your name, and explain your nightmare."

The woman did as she was told and faced Hiruko with those sleepless, chocolate brown eyes. She stared at the tablecloth for a while before saying, "My name is Hitomi Suzuki. I got pregnant a few months ago..."

"That's great," Mizuki congratulated as she handed Hitmoi a cup of coffee. "What do you think it will be, a boy or a girl?"

"I was hoping for a boy," Hitomi said.

Hiruko raised an eyebrow. "Was? What happened?"

"Well..." Hitomi sighed. "Just yesterday, I had a miscarriage."

"That's terrible," Mizuki gasped.

"I know!" The woman bit down on her lip and tears rose into her eyes. "I didn't want for this to happen. I have a young daughter at home who is so excited about it, and it'd break my heart to tell her. Only my husband and I know, and...oh, it feels awful. To lose a child...To top it off, I...I keep forgetting things."

"Like what?" Hiruko asked.

"Well..." Hitomi pondered it a little. "I forgot what happened the day I announced to my family that I was pregnant. I do remember cheers and laughter, but then there was something else...something that I thought I'd never forget or forgive."

"An insult?" Mizuki guessed.

"I don't know," Hitomi sighed. "Another thing is that I began to forget about my daughter. She doesn't notice, of course, because I'm usually plagued with nausea and fever most of the time so that I'm in bed, but if this keeps up...and I know it will, I...I..."

"It looks like the shock of losing a child has clouded your mind," Hiruko reasoned. "I hear cases of mothers going crazy over this. And now...onto your nightmare, please."

"Night...mare? Oh, yes. Well..."

_I dream that I'm carrying a heavy burden over a hill. I don't know what it is--my head is facing downwards most of the time so I can't see what I'm carrying or where I am. Somewhere inside the cargo, though, is the sound of a crying baby. And there are other voices talking in a jumble..._

_I want to remove this heavy thing but I can't. The voices and the baby's cry make me feel sad and scared at the same time. I'm also afraid of where I'm heading, because I can somehow tell that the ground is getting thinner and thinner...._

_"_Hiruko, please help me!" Hitomi begged. "Take this heavy burden off of me and stop me before something happens!"

_Interesting, _Hiruko thought. _I'd really like to see what the burden really is. _He stood up and held a firm grip on Formalin, his cane. He held out the curved point at Hitomi and said the usual,"Sleep now...Leave this world behind."

A sudden wind whipped through the Teahouse. Hitomi nodded off to sleep, and Hiruko vanished into her dream.

* * *

"Here we are," Hiruko said.

"Ah..." Hitomi groaned. Her face was flushed and glistened with sweat. Her legs were shaky and ready to give in at any moment. And on top of her back...

_Oh my goodness, _Hiruko thought in surprise.

"Take...it...off my...back," Hitomi pleaded hoarsely. "Please...can't take the weight...any longer..." The voices grew in volume and the baby's cry increased with every word she spoke. It was only her second nightmare, so the sounds would not be deafening; however, if Hiruko didn't do something and if Hitomi kept having the nightmare...

"I can help," Hiruko said. "But only a little. First, I think I'll take a look around this place. I'll come back for you, don't worry."

"No..." Hitomi said, but Hiruko had already hooked his case onto Formalin, jumped onto the cane, and flew off.

_It's hot here, _Hiruko thought. _I wonder if Hitomi noticed that? _He continued on his little flight and, after deciding that he was high enough, allowed himself to look down.

The scenery below was rather savage. Forests were set on fire and Hiruko could hear the cries of suffering from what looked like thatched huts. Almost everything burned except for a long, silver blue line, which could only be a river.

_Water, _Hiruko thought. _Maybe if I can try and put some of the fires out...? _He swooped down on Formalin and landed on the charred grass. All around him the flames licked up at the sky, hungry and merciless. The cries were much louder now. _This is strange...the place where Hitomi was going wasn't on fire. How come this place...? And the voices..._

The baku rushed towards the edge of a few maple trees and ended up on the shore of a river just as furious as the fire. He scooped a handful of water in his hands and splashed it at a small patch of fire.

It still kept burning.

_Then this is what I guessed it to be, _he thought with a smile. _Time to go back to Hitomi._

Hiruko sped back the way he came and found Hitomi still struggling with her load. The road she was now taking seemed to be strangely transluscent, as though it were made of a dusty brown glass.

_"The ground is getting thinner and thinner...."_

"This isn't good," Hiruko said, and landed beside Hitomi.

"Please...help..." she groaned.

Hiruko touched what she was carrying and tried to take a peice of it off. Only a crumb's worth fell; nothing more. "Hitomi," he said, "I'm afraid I couldn't help as expected...this is a case in which you must do it yourself."

"N-no..."

"This is your burden, after all. To lighten the load, try to remember what you're forgetting. Especially the thing that you thought you wouldn't be able to 'forget and forgive'."

"I...can't...so heavy." Hitomi gasped for breath. "Wa...water..."

"You will only be allowed rest until you know what happened." Hiruko gave a sly smile. "And only after you've accepted it."

"What..."

The ground gradually lost color the more Hitomi walked. It grew more brittle and a shard jutting out of the ground made her fall. The burden was still heavy on her, as well as the voices, but most notably was the baby's cries.

"Here." Hiruko bent down and picked up the pebble-sized bit he was able to scrape off of her cargo. He placed it before the fallen woman's eyes so that she could see it. "Maybe you'll realize how crucial it is for you to remember if you see this."

"I..." Hitomi gulped. The sight of it made her tremble. And she faintly remembered...

--

_"Reiko just gave birth to another child!"_

Hitomi blinked. Reiko was her older sister, the middle child of three girls. She was the first one to have given birth, and both her daughters were older than Hitomi's, one by two years and the other by two months. But if this nightmare was about her miscarriage...why was she remembering about Reiko?

"_What!? Really?" Akinobu, Hitomi's nephew from her oldest sister, shot up in excitement._

_"Yes. And it's a boy!" _

_"Oh, how wonderful!" Her father clapped his hands. __"I'm sure he'll grow up to be a wonderful man."_

_In the scene, Hitomi saw herself sitting quietly in __the corner, sulking at the news. She clenched her hands into fists and her mind went crazy with envy; something that shocked her to remember. But the bit of memory was too small to show anything else, and it abruptly ended after that._

_--_

"So you tried to get pregnant with a boy hoping that you would outdo your sister," Hiruko said coldly.

"How did you know?" Hitomi asked.

"I saw it when I broke it off," the baku replied. "Not much but enough to tell me that you envy Reiko. And besides--it was written all over your face. Do you remember now?"

"Yes," Hitmoi admitted. "Yes and...I do remember a few details. Of the time I announced my pregnancy, I mean."

"Tell me," Hiruko said with a smile.

And she told him.

"Why isn't the burden getting any lighter!?" Hitmoi shrieked as she struggled to stand, only to be pushed down by her load.

"You'll see," Hiruko said, and placed his cane over her head. "Time to wake up."

* * *

Hitomi had just left the Silver Star Teahouse in a hurry. After she was gone, Hiruko retold all the details to Mizuki, who listened patiently.

--

_Because of all the praise Reiko got for the baby boy, Hitomi became obsessed with having a baby boy as cute and healthy as Reiko's child, who came to be named Satoshi. I found out that Hitomi is, by nature, envious, especially with the fact that Reiko had children before the youngest, Hitomi, and the oldest, Tomoko. _

_That day, the day she announced her pregnancy, Hitomi was right--everyone was happy. Except for one person._

_Her father._

_He told her straightforward that she should not have tried to be pregnant again in the first place. He said her daughter was enough for her. This made her angrier and much more jealous of Reiko._

_"What's so great about Satoshi anyway!?" Hitomi raged. "How come it's ok for Reiko to have a boy and not me?"_

_After that, she had been denying the existence of Reiko's third child. This led to an argument between her and her father, and to her neices' resentment of her. But that wouldn't stop her; she went on nourishing the child within._

_And after that, she miscarried._

_--_

"I wonder why her father opposed the baby in the first place," Mizuki said. "She didn't mention him knowing her intentions. Was Reiko his favorite daughter?"

"He had no favorites," Hiruko explained. "But he was a man who knew his children well."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. The day Reiko's child was born, Hitomi didn't even smile. Her father was there; apparently, they had gathered for some kind of anniversary that day. He noticed. Someone had to, at least. And he was the one sitting closest to her."

"I see," Mizuki said.

"Furthermore," Hiruko continued, "her burden was heavy because of all the jealousy she had shut up into her heart. This came not from her new nephew's arrival but of others as well. Best not to talk about them. The voices were of those she had envied, and the baby's cry was a constant reminder of her choice. It was so heavy that even before she got the nightmare it started pressing down on her memories. The road that was thinning was the road to her downfall; it tripped her only because she had wanted it to, so that she could try and see what she was carrying."

"And what about the fire?"

"That represented her state of mind," Hiruko said. "Burning to ashes. This is also a sole reason as to why she's forgotten those two days. The voices screaming out in pain, as I've noticed, were not of a multitude of people but of only four."

"Four?" Mizuki raised an eyebrow.

"Her sister, father, and Satoshi," Hiruko said.

"And the other..."

"Her daughter."

"Oh no..." Mizuki put a hand over her mouth. "So that's why she's been..."

"Yes." Hiruko smiled coldly, and removed the nightmare from Formalin. He rolled it in his palm before popping into his mouth. "Mm...a bit spicy."

The door opened again, alerting Hiruko and Mizuki. In stepped a familiar, tall rich goof who looked heavily drunk...

"Hic," Hifumi hiccuped. "What'd I...hic...miss?"

* * *

Finally, the end of it! It's probably the longest I've ever written!


	2. Dish Two: The Voice Backstage

My second Yumekui Kenbun fanfic...yay! It's just a collection of people's nightmares and Kenbun-kun solving them...I had some ideas I wanted to get down so don't mind if I do.

I know the _Phantom of the Opera _theme song wasn't written in 1925, but I couldn't think of any other song. So please don't be confused if I use some lyrics.

_Phantom of the Opera _belongs to Gaston Leroux, and the song belongs to Alexander Webbs. I have no ownership of either of these.

* * *

_Under the cover of darkness...._

_They come to the Silver Star Teahouse..._

_Seeking solace._

It was about 5:00am at the Silver Star Teahouse and still dark outside. Hiruko looked out the window, anxious to get into bed for the morning. Mizuki had turned on the radio and tuned it to their favorite radio show, which was currently doing a news report. After some outrageously impossible accounts, the news segment ended and the show played a song neither Hiruko or Mizuki had ever heard.

_In sleep he sang to me_

_In dreams he came..._

"What a scary intro," Mizuki said, referring to the cacophony of church organ notes played at the beginning. "It fits you somehow."

Hiruko gave her a dry smile.

_That voice which calls to me_

_And speaks my name._

_And do I dream again?_

_For now I find..._

_The Phantom of the Opera is there....inside my mind..._

"I wonder what the 'Phatom of the Opera' is, though," Mizuki said as she began wiping the counter. "The music is haunting and beautiful, and so are the lyrics...but it really makes me wonder..."

At this moment, Hifumi blundered sleepily down the stairs. He yawned and said, "Morning, my Mizuki...morning, you poisonous mushroom."

Hiruko made a face at Hifumi and went back to staring out the window.

_Sing once again with me_

_Our strange duet..._

_My power over you_

_Grows stronger yet._

_And though you turn from me _

_To glance behind..._

"What's with the song?" Hifumi asked as he pulled up a chair. "Sounds creepy."

"It's a new one, I think," Mizuki said.

_The Phantom of the Opera is there_

_Inside your mind_

"Oh!" Hifumi shot up from his seat and bumped his knee against the table. "I know this now!"

_Idiot, _Hiruko thought. _It's going to be something stupid..._

_"_This is a song about I book I read a few years ago. It was _The Phantom of the Opera, _by Gaston Leroux. It's French, by the way," Hifumi added. "My father had it translated into Japanese and gave it to me on my birthday."

"What's it about?" Mizuki asked.

"It's about this singer named Christine who receives singing lessons from her 'angel of music', who turns out to be a scarred man who had fallen in love with her. The setting is at the Paris Opera, and it's called _Phantom of the Opera _because the scarred guy lives underground and wears a mask. Like this." Hifumi held up his fingers around his eyes, like a mask.

_It really did turn out stupid, _Hiruko grinned (at Hifumi's hand-mask face).

"That sounds intense," Mizuki commented.

"There's more tension with the fact that Christine is already engaged to another man," Hifumi said.

Hifumi was about to say more but was abruptly interrupted by the usual _ding, _which always meant that someone had come through the door. Hiruko raised his head and wondered who had come so early in the morning. _Especially when I was about to go to sleep, _he added to himself.

"Um, hello." A young girl stood there, nervous and sleepy. "I, uh...is this where Hiruko the baku is?"

"Yes, of course," Mizuki said with a smile. "I'll get you some coffee."

The girl edged toward Hiruko's table and slowly let herself settle into a chair. "My name is Miyuki Kazehaya. I'm aiming to become a singer when I'm older, so I started taking these lessons. My teacher is a professional and he is very kind..."

_I've become obsessed with singing; it's the best way for me to release my stress and just...well, sing. I want to improve my voice so that I can be able to amaze people. I basically sing all the time, and it's become quite a habit._

_Well, now, I've had this nightmare about it._

_I'm standing on a stage facing no audience, and it's dark. I open my mouth to sing a song, and from behind the curtains there is a voice telling me what to do, which vocal exercises to try, and how to reach the correct pitch. The voice is kind and gentle; it never yells at me. I've grown to love it and with the help of it's dream-lessons I've been able to sound this good. But now what started as a good dream has become something really...scary._

_See, I try to peek behind the curtain and see who it is. Maybe if I see the voice's face just once, I might be able to meet it's human form in real life. But the curtains won't budge, and because of what I've done, the voice demands that my physical body and soul belong to it forever..._

"I don't know what to do, Hiruko," Miyuki said, trembling. "I hear it every time I start to sing and when that happens, I stop. I really don't want to stop singing, but...but if this keeps up I won't be able to achieve my goal. It's also told me that if it tells me to, I should be prepared to never see my family again."

"Hmm," Hiruko said. "I need to ask you a question. Do you have any love interest at the moment?"

"O-Oh..." Miyuki blushed. "There's someone..."

"Who is it?" Mizuki placed the coffee onto the table, which Miyuki eagerly drank.

"He's a neighbor, Kiyotaka Otomiya. I met him a while ago and we were good friends. That was, until he confessed to me." Now a smile was planted on her face. "I've accepted his feelings and now we're together! I'm almost of marrying age, him too, so we've decided to be together in the future."

"That's great," Mizuki smiled.

"Not so great in her case," Hiruko interjected. "I don't mean to be a pessimist, but, well...you'll see." He stood up and reached for his cane, which he pointed at Miyuki. "Sleep now...Leave this world behind."

_So...sleepy..._Miyuki's eyes closed and her head landed gently on the table.

* * *

"Now we're in your dream."

"Oh...everything's exactly the way it was." Miyuki knelt down to stroke the wooden surface of the stage. "At least I have someone here with me."

"Many people find that they cope better in the dark when there's someone with them," Hiruko said while he examined the surroundings. "I've never felt anything like that, though. And I suppose I won't need to..." He felt his fingers touch a rope, which probably held up a sandbag. Or... "Miyuki."

"Yes?" She turned to face Hiruko.

"I don't hear the voice," Hiruko said.

Miyuki explained, "It usually takes a while before speaking." She suddenly became pale. "Oh no...I don't want to hear it! It scares me, it...it's not like my Sensei in real life."

"Tell me more about Sensei," Hiruko coaxed.

"Sensei is a nice man," Miyuki began. "He's quite young but has an amazing voice. He's already married, and his wife can also sing well. He...He cares for each of his students, and never threatens us like...like...well, you know."

"I see."

**_Miyuki..._**

"Oh no, Hiruko, that's the voice!" Miyuki ran over to the baku and clutched his arm tightly. "M-Make it go away!"

**_Why aren't you singing, dear Miyuki? I so badly wanted to hear it. You've gotten so much better at it._**

"Go away!" Miyuki shrieked.

_So this is what it sounds like, _Hiruko thought.

**_If it's about your 'payment'..._**

"No..." Miyuki was now sobbing. "I don't agree...I'll never give you my body nor my soul and I won't leave my family either..."

Before the voice could speak, Hiruko took the chance and said, "Miyuki, do you think this voice has feelings for you other than just the teacher-student relationship it has assumed with you?"

"I never thought about it that way, and I don't care!"

**_There's someone else with you Miyuki...I thought I told you that you were to be here alone, especially not with another boy...You are mine, after all! For that, I should also take--_**

"You can't take anything away from me!" Miyuki fell to her knees and sobbed. "You're not the teacher I thought you were! If I had known you would do this to me I would have never listened to you in the first place..."

_But that's the problem, _Hiruko reasoned. _You can't know beforehand._

_**I'm just jealous, my dear Miyuki. **_

The voice disappeared, and Miyuki stopped crying. She accepted a handkerchief from Hiruko and blew her nose on it. After a few sniffles she said, "I never yelled at the voice before. It feels good to let out your feelings, but...to something that's been helping my singing career..."

"Some_one, _not some_thing_," Hiruko corrected her. "This voice has a soul behind it. It's not a lifeless object. Don't disrespect it further."

"What should I do?" Miyuki grieved. "I don't want this voice to interfere every time I try to sing."

"This is your dream," Hiruko said. "You can do whatever you want. Most preferably, if you'd walk near that curtain and feel for a rope that's been hanging..."

"N-Near the curtain, where the voice is!? Never!" She shook her head. "Please, Hiruko...You go do it. I don't have the courage to try..."

_They always say that, _Hiruko sighed. He followed his own instructions and walked towards the curtain where he had felt the rope before. It was still hanging from the same place, but was swinging this time. Hiruko caught hold of it and yanked it.

The sound of cloth flying in the wind erupted throughout the stage. The curtains were blown to the sides and shredded into little pieces. It revealed another section of neverending darkness, except...

"What do you make of it?" Hiruko asked.

"I...I..." Miyuki stared in dumbfounded horror. She bit her lip and looked away. "So that's who the voice was...I never knew..."

"Life does surprise you," Hiruko commented. "This nightmare is over. _Time to wake up._"

And the nightmare slipped away...

* * *

"He was Shouhei Takashi, a childhood friend I forgot about." Miyuki was explaining to Hiruko, Mizuki, and Hifumi about the "voice", whom she had a glimpse of after the curtains were blasted away. "We weren't exactly close friends but it was a pretty good friendship. Shouhei was a hunchback, and there was this tumor that grew above his left eye that sort of blocked some of his vision from there. He was always teased about it, and I stood up for him, but only partially. His older brother usually did it."

--

_Well...my family moved and I rarely ever saw Shouhei, except when we were visiting my grandparents, who still live in that area. Those visits are usually once or twice a year. I came back from a visit just a week ago and Shouhei gave me a song he had written._

_"For you," he said, "so that we can always be close." At the time, I thought he meant 'close' in terms of friendship._

_I remember now...The entire song was his confession. He sent a note the day after I returned asking what I thought about it. I already had Kiyotaka by that time, and I didn't want him discovering Shouhei's feelings for me, so I burned the music sheet. My anxiety took over and I began imagine what Shouhei would do if he knew--so I willed myself to forget about it._

_--_

"I think Shouhei somehow knew about it," Miyuki said with a shiver. "That's why he got angry...not just because I tried to peek behind the curtain, but...also because I burnt his song."

"But you got the dreams before you were given the song," Hifumi said. "How could that be?"

"Shouhei wrote other songs, too. He showed them to me every time I came and now I...I remember those songs..."

"...because they were the ones you sang in the dreams?" Hiruko asked.

"Yes." Miyuki shook her head. "Oh dear, this is just too much for me...I think I'll take a break today and get back to Sensei tomorrow." She stood up and bowed politely. "Thank you for helping. Now I believe the voice won't come again." With that, she left.

"It won't be that easy," Hiruko said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Mizuki asked.

"The stage and darkness around it represented on her focusing on nothing but singing," Hiruko explained. "Whatever was behind the curtain were things that she cast aside, or in this case, people. Now that the curtain is gone, she'll have a lot to think about. But that doesn't solve the problem..." He frowned for a bit, then asked, "Hifumi, how did the _Phantom of the Opera _end?"

"Well..." Hifumi rubbed his chin. "The Phantom had given up on chasing Christine after she gave him one kiss. He said it was enough for him, and afterwards, he died."

--

_A few days later..._

Hiruko and Mizuki were once again listening to their early morning radio show. The news reports had ended and now the show was playing a song. But halfway through the song...

"**We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this news. A man identified as Shouhei Takashi has just died of a heart attack. He was last seen entering Miss Miyuki Kazehaya's house for a visit. There was no violence or shouting, but an eyewitness, Miss Kazehaya's young brother whose name we will not disclose, said that Mr. Takashi confessed his love to Miss Miyuki apparently while her lover, Kiyotaka Otomiya, was present. Miss Miyuki declined Mr. Takashi's feelings and told him that she already had Mr. Otomiya. It was at this point Mr. Takashi lunged at Mr. Otomiya, and Miss Miyuki intercepted them to protect her lover.**

**She had apparently kissed Mr. Takashi, and after many tears his heart attack settled in and took his life.**"

"My, my," Hiruko said with a smile. "We should tell Hifumi."

"I'll go and--"

"**We apologize again; there's been an update...**

**Miss Miyuki and Mr. Otomiya have just been killed in a fatal car crash.**"

* * *

I hope you enjoyed it ^^.

And to get that little noggin of yours running, read this question and answer as a review (optional):

**If Hiruko ended up eating a really, realy sugary nightmare (one about cake, ice cream, tarts, pie...the works), do you think he'd get a little fatter? Yes or no?**


	3. Dish Three: Dessert is Served

Sorry for taking so long to update this. Today's chapter is about the question I asked you, of what would happen if Hiruko ate a sugary nightmare.

Here it is!

* * *

_Under no cover at all..._

_Hifumi is already in the Silver Star Teahouse..._

_Seeking solace._

"Hiruko!" Hifumi cried, slamming his hands down on the table. "I had a terrible nightmare!"

"What happened?" The baku asked with a slight yawn of boredom.

"It was...it was...it...was..." The poor guy looked as though he were about to burst into tears at any moment. "RAAGH! If you don't help me, maybe I'll just-"

"Calm down, Hifumi," Hiruko said, now seeing the urgency of the matter. "I'll help you...however much I'll regret it later. Just tell me what's happening."

_Yes...got him! _Hifumi cheered silently. He had been working on telling himself what to dream of for this very moment. There were no results at first, but gradually he began seeing the kind of dream he had worked hard to see. And he wanted Hiruko to eat it. _The poor sod never gets to enjoy food, _was Hifumi's excuse to legitimize it. _So I'm giving him a once-in-a-lifetime chance; for a baku, that is; to indulge on sweets!_

By all outward appearances, however, Hifumi still looked very distressed and sad. "Well, the thing is...Mizuki..."

Hiruko let out a groan. "If it's about Mizuki, like it _always _is, then I'm not-"

"No!" Hifumi interrupted. "I didn't mean Mizuki, as in, I dreamt of her dumping me; which is highly unlikely, in dreams and real life; but I saw her, like she was some sort of passerby."

The baku raised an eyebrow.

"Ignore that last part," the rich boy continued. "Anyways...well...it's just too horrible to say!"

Hiruko grumpily leaned back in his chair, his cane tapping the floor impatiently. "You must be pulling a prank on me."

"No I'm not!" Hifumi protested.

"Then why won't you tell me about it?"

"I...well, you've got to see for yourself."

"Not going to do it." The baku crossed his arms and looked out the window, hoping with all his heart that some other customer would step in soon and free him from this madness.

"Please," his friend begged.

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"There's nothing pretty about 'please'."

"Please?" This time, it was Mizuki who said it. She was standing at their table now, already done with cleaning out her bedroom. In her left hand, she still held a feather duster.

"Why would you want to help him?" Hiruko asked her. "It's obvious he's just joking."

"He seems really distressed," Mizuki prompted.

"I truly am," Hifumi added.

"And it's very hard to fake that kind of distress," Mizuki continued.

"With practice it becomes quite easy to fake it as well."

"This is the first time Hifumi has ever come to you for a nightmare," she continued. "How can you possibly know if he's joking, especially since he's never even tried a prank like that before? Nightmares are your business...and business is a serious thing."

"What she said," Hifumi agreed.

"Fine, fine," Hiruko groaned, and pointed his cane at Hifumi. "Sleep now, leave this world behind." He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

* * *

_Where._

_Are. _

_We? _(Hiruko)

"See, Hiruko, this is my nightmare." Hifumi waved a dismissive hand over the sugary pink landscape. Mountains of whipped cream topped with maraschino cherries pierced a dripping sugar-caremel sky puffed with cotton-candy clouds. The ground was suspiciously squishy and instead of grass, there was licorice.

The baku's stoic eyes swept over the sparkling candyland as though to appraise it. Several times they narrowed, and it wasn't because he was nearsighted. After a while, he said with finality, "You lied to me."

"What!" Hifumi's voice took on an offended edge. "How could I possibly ever lie to you?"

"This isn't a nightmare, it's a haven for sugar-addicts like you."

"B...But..." _Gotta think fast! _"But it _is _a nightmare, in that if I eat too many sweets, I'll get fat and _Mizuki won't like me_!"

"Is that why you spouted Mizuki's name first?"

"Huh?"

"When you tried explaining..." Hiruko pointed at the sugary masses. "...this...to me."

"Oh, sure, yes." The rich boy tried putting on his best smile.

"Well, where's the part where you start pigging out?"

Hifumi's face fell. "Come again?"

"You said this was a nightmare in which you eat so much you get fat and Mizuki hates you," Hiruko repeated with some tweaks.

"Hey! I never said I ate anything!"

The baku heaved his cane over his shoulder with a resigned sigh. "Then I guess I came for nothing. It isn't really a nightmare at all."

"Wha...but..." Hifumi's sleeves became wrinkled in his desperate, fisted grasp, as though by doing so Hiruko would stay. _What should I do? I didn't think that far enough into the plan..._But if Hiruko was to eat the nightmare, it had to be a nightmare, so Hifumi had no choice but to say, "All right, you saw through me! I...I was just embarrassed, which was why I denied it..."

Hiruko let his cane down with a knowing; and hey, was that a _mocking_; smile. "All right."

"See, see? I'll prove it to you!" Hifumi edged himself towards a gumdrop rock. "I can't control myself, nope, not at all! These are _nightmarish _impulses!" His hand grabbed at the piece of candy and, with a reluctance he was quick to hide, shoved it into his maw. "_Nightmashish_," he said again with his mouth full.

Hiruko's mouth was a taut line, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. "That doesn't seem the worst of it. Perhaps it is just beginning?"

"Yesh!" Hifumi swallowed the candy and made a grab for the branch of a chocolate tree. "It's...It's so hard to resist..._milk chocolate! Yummmmm!_" As he munched on the chocolate, he felt a little bulge in his middle. _Oh no...it's happening...for real!_

"Tiring already?" Hiruko asked.

"Kind of, yes..."

"Then when-"

As if on cue with the baku's question, Hifumi's middle grew wider. And now, come to think of it, he seemed to be getting a bit chubbier in the cheeks too...and the arms...plus the legs...especially the buttocks...

_All because of a gumdrop and some chocolate? _Hifumi thought, wide-eyed at this transformation. _This is REALLY turning out to be a nightmare!_

"Too bad it's going to be a disgusting nightmare," Hiruko seemed to add to the thought. "So where does Mizuki come in?" He used his hands to shade himself from the light of the lemon-flavored hard-candy sun. "Or do you have to eat more?"

For once, Hifumi had to admit that Mizuki was _not _in his dreams. He didn't think of adding her. But hey, this was just a dream! So what did he have to worry about? He could control it, and make Mizuki come in. He just had to figure out how..."Hiruko," he said at length, "fly up and get me some cotton candy...please?"

"Nightmarish impulses again?"

"Night...yes."

The baku sat sideways on his cane as a witch would on her broom and soared off to the dripping caramel sky. Hifumi prayed to whatever candy gods there were at the moment that the cotton candy clouds were long enough out of the baku's reach so that he could hurry and summon a dream-Mizuki into his nightmare. _Think,_ he encouraged himself, _Think of Mizuki! Think of her beautiful eyes, her cute little nose, her rosy cheeks, her soft black hair, her awesome figure, her delicate hands...ooh, and her wonderful coffee..._

POOF!

Hifumi opened his eyes, which he soon realized were closed while thinking of Mizuki. Indeed, there was a dream-Mizuki standing there, all perfect and pretty, giving him the best smile she could ever smile up.

At the same time though, Hiruko held a wad of cotton candy in his hands and using Hifumi's open mouth as a goal, threw the candy into his mouth.

The rich boy had no choice but to eat it and swallow it. And just as he did, his figure bulged wildly in a way he never imagined would happen. Feeling ashamed of standing before Mizuki like this, even if it was a dream-Mizuki, he shut his eyes closed and like in his childhood, hoped that would make him invisible.

Mizuki, meanwhile, had a hand up on her cheek in a sign of shock. Her big brown eyes grew bigger as she stared at the boy. "Hifumi...you're so...fat."

_Noooooo! _There should have been more o's, but then there wouldn't be any space left here.

In any case, Hiruko was already sailing down on his cane and leapt off gracefully in time to catch Hifumi burning with embarasssment. As he began to move towards his bulging friend, he could hear Hifumi's voice begging him from behind all the fat.

"Please, Hiruko...send us back...I don't want to see this anymore!"

Hiruko wanted to respond with, "But I do", but when he heard the distress and hurt in Hifumi's voice he couldn't help but comply. The baku held up his cane and began summoning the dream magic. "All right. But just remember this...you can never bait a baku in a dream that you make up.

_Time to wake up_."

* * *

_Oh god..._Hifumi felt wobbly when he finally woke into the waking world, as if some of the weight still burdened his bones. Never. NEVER. _NEVER _would he think of doing such a thing again! Especially where Mizuki's displeasure of his figure was involved!

Across from him, Hiruko was removing the pink and sugary nightmare from Formalin. His mouth was in a teasing smile as he eyed the nightmare, like a prized jewel.

"Why're you smiling?" asked Hifumi.

"Well..." Hiruko rested his cheek on his free hand. "I was just remembering all that went on in that little trip."

_You poisonous mushroom!_

"And that we could have gone out earlier," the baku added.

_YOU FATAL FUNGUS!_

"Then why did you make us stay?" Hifumi asked incredulously. Why indeed?

"There had to be some form of nightmare in it," the baku explained. "Otherwise...it wouldn't have been scary enough for me." He smiled again.

"You liar! You...you..." Hifumi wanted to grip the table's edge, overthrow it, and smash the baku into a wall! But his next words were, "Eat it. Eat the nightmare. Eat it _now_."

Hiruko frowned and simply popped it into his mouth. After a swallow, he said, "There. I ate it." Then the skin below his eye twitched...twice.

Much later into the day, Mizuki and Hifumi had to make a fort of tables and chairs around the bar just so Hiruko couldn't reach them in his wild-sugar-high-crazy episode.


End file.
